Douluo's Gourd

The concept of time seemed to be frozen in the ice cave.

In the far north, winter days are very short, and most of the time is long night.

Inside the ice cave, the light source is stable and constant, thanks to the refraction of faint sunlight by the ice itself and certain luminescent minerals, which gradually blurs the distinction between day and night.

While waiting for the coldest time of the year to arrive, Wang Xiaofeng did not sit idle.

He first pulled Nydia along and used his exquisite soul power to cut through the ice, building an ice house with a dome and doorways in their place of residence.

He even used his soul power to slightly polish the interior of the igloo, making it smooth and neat. He also made a lot of furniture, and the layout of the house was exactly the same as his home in Wind Chaser Territory.

This is not enough.

Wang Xiaofeng found some seeds that looked like ice crystals from some corner and cultivated a small flower bed near the spot where the ice marrow water dripped, next to the igloo.

Watering the plants daily with a mixture of pure lunar sap and ice marrow water, after several days, surprisingly, clumps of low-growing, strangely shaped plants actually sprouted.

Some resemble glistening coral, some unfurl their icy leaves, and some even bloom with tiny flowers that emit a pale blue glow.

These plants don't need soil; they seem to survive and grow solely on the dense, frigid air inside the ice cave and the occasional drops of icy water, adding a touch of extremely fragile yet tenacious vitality and color to this desolate, lifeless blue-white world.

Nidia spends most of her time each day in arduous training by the Ice Marrow Water, battling the stubborn energy within her body.

Occasionally, when I pause to meditate, the sight of the igloo with its soft glow and the strangely shaped plants growing in the nursery beside it strangely calms the unease in my heart.

She could always sense Wang Xiaofeng's love for life in the little details of everyday life.

This warm heart is perhaps the reason she fell in love with him.

The original owner of the ice cave, a two-headed cyclops, developed a rapidly growing relationship with Wang Xiaofeng after spending a few days with him.

After they got to know each other, Wang Xiaofeng gave it a name without any hesitation: Ah-Dai.

The origin of the name is very simple: the giant's two heads always look silly in normal circumstances.

Especially that little head, which, apart from following the big head's movements, has no independent consciousness. In addition, the giant usually speaks haltingly and likes to shout.

It was extremely rare for Nydia to object to the name "Ah-Dai".

The giant seemed to have no objection to this, and was even a little happy to have a name. Every time Wang Xiaofeng called it, it would try its best to turn its two heads to look over, blinking its one eye and its small eye together.

After they became more familiar with each other, Wang Xiaofeng carefully examined Ah Dai's body again.

The conclusion was that the injuries it sustained were far more severe than they appeared to be.

Not only was its chest pierced and its head smashed into a pulp, but the alien energy left inside its body by the enemy also caused considerable damage to its soul.

This might explain why its intelligence recovers slowly and its reactions are often sluggish.

Physical wounds can heal, and even severed heads can regenerate, but the hidden wounds of the soul are difficult to heal on their own, even with slow healing.

"Nourishment of the soul..."

Wang Xiaofeng rubbed his chin, pondering the methods he knew.

He thought of the legendary "Emperor's Dew," a spiritual liquid formed from the essence of the moonlight, which had miraculous effects on nourishing the soul and enhancing spiritual wisdom.

His martial soul is special, possessing a certain ability to absorb and transform the power of moonlight, forming a Pinduoduo version of "Moonlight Essence".

Over the years, as the martial soul has been upgraded, "Moon Flowing Powder" has gradually acquired some mystical properties, but he is not sure if this stuff is effective for a soul beast of Ah-Dai's size and characteristics.

After all, he didn't have any friends with impaired mental abilities, and his experiments were mostly used on patients with physical injuries.

We can only try treatment as a last resort. Anyway, we can drink menstrual blood as a supplement, at least it won't upset our stomachs.

So, whenever the night sky is clear and the moon hangs high, Wang Xiaofeng would walk out of the ice cave, find an open space, and use his abilities like a large funnel to extract and purify the strands of moonlight energy that seeped into the deep, cold land of the far north.

This process is not easy. The thin oxygen, low temperature, and howling wind and snow greatly affect the gourd's absorption efficiency.

Often, sitting quietly all night, one can only condense a basin of moon-flowing liquid.

For Ah-Dai, this amount was equivalent to drinking a few drops of water.

But it seems to have actually worked a little.

Nourished by a basin of moon-flowing sap every day, Ah-Dai's eyes seemed to clear a little, and his speech became slightly more coherent.

The best indication of his restored intelligence was that one day he suddenly wanted to clean and tidy his doghouse.

That day, as Wang Xiaofeng was pondering how to give the furniture in the igloo intelligence and turn it into a smart home, he suddenly heard a clattering sound outside.

He went outside and saw Ah-Dai carefully tidying up the pile of spoils that it had casually left in the corner of its nest with its huge paws.

It mainly contains various huge animal bones, some strangely colored minerals, and scattered crystals.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Wang Xiaofeng asked curiously as he walked over.

"The place is a mess." Without looking up, Ah-Dai tried to straighten several particularly long ribs with a thick finger. "Clean it up."

Wang Xiaofeng chuckled, thinking that this big guy was quick to learn, so he didn't stop him and watched Ah Dai busy himself with great interest.

Most of those animal bones were ancient, frozen hard as iron by the extreme cold, and some still retained the ferocious outlines of their former lives.

However, as he watched, Wang Xiaofeng's smile gradually froze.

His gaze swept over several bones with a strange luster, and his heart skipped a beat.

"and many more!"

He called out to stop Ah Dai, quickly walked to the pile of bones that had been moved aside, and squatted down to examine them carefully.

Soul power seeped into those suspicious bones like silk threads.

A moment later, he gasped and looked regretful.

"Wow, there's actually some treasure hidden in this pile of junk!"

Wang Xiaofeng pointed to several bones that had lost all spiritual energy and were no different from ordinary animal bones. These were once soul bones, and their age was definitely not low.

Unfortunately, too much time had passed, and the soul power completely dissipated. The runes and energy structure inside completely collapsed, turning it into a useless bone.

Ah-Dai stopped what he was doing, tilting both of his heads to the side. He didn't understand how the bones had become treasures, and just looked at Wang Xiaofeng with a puzzled expression.

Wang Xiaofeng didn't explain further, his gaze continuing to search through the pile of bones.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he reached under several thick bones and pulled out a bone about the thickness and length of a human thigh bone, but with a strange frost pattern on its surface.

Wang Xiaofeng carefully probed his soul power into it.

A moment later, he raised his head, his eyes gleaming.

This is the left leg bone of an ice-attribute soul beast that is at least 50,000 years old. Although its soul power has been severely depleted and its ice essence is almost entirely gone, the core basic runes are still intact and have not suffered much wear and tear.

If it is nurtured with high-quality ice-attribute energy, it might be possible to reactivate this soul bone.

This soul bone was practically tailor-made for Nydia.

Wang Xiaofeng looked at Adai, his tone becoming serious: "Adai, this bone is very important to me. How about I trade you something for it?"

Ah-Dai blinked its big and small eyes and looked at the dark blue bone in Wang Xiaofeng's hand, which looked like a toothpick to it.

It thought for a moment, then slowly said, "Here you go, I don't need it."

"That won't do. Even brothers should keep clear accounts." Wang Xiaofeng shook his head. He couldn't just take advantage of Ah Dai just because it wasn't very smart.

Wang Xiaofeng thought for a moment, then held out both hands. "Ten meals! I'll trade you this bone for ten super lavish meals, how about it?"

"Food?" Ah-Dai's one eye and small eyes lit up at the same time.

It had eaten all sorts of cooked food and specially made high-energy food that Wang Xiaofeng had heated up. The taste was far more wonderful than eating raw frozen meat or absorbing ice-attribute energy. Unfortunately, the quantity was too small, just enough to fill a tooth gap.

"Ten meals, is that a lot?"

"Very much! I guarantee you'll be satisfied with every meal," Wang Xiaofeng assured him, patting his chest.

He was already thinking about whether the seasonings in his soul tool would be enough to prepare a special feast using local ingredients in the far north.

Ah-Dai was clearly powerless against ten lavish meals; it barely hesitated before shouting, "Change!"

The deal was done, and Wang Xiaofeng carefully put away the left leg bone that was emitting a faint chill.

Although this soul bone is damaged, its foundation is excellent, and the remaining ice attribute is extremely compatible with Nydia.

Perhaps, at the crucial moment when Nydia is suppressing the fire attribute energy within her body and harmonizing yin and yang, we could try to use the pure ice attribute energy and incomplete runes in this soul bone to provide her with additional protection, and even bring unexpected gains.

My head is throbbing from writing this. I'll see if I can make up for today's missed update tomorrow.